Lucille Ball (1911-1989): Topic PageTelevision comedienne and film actress, born in Celaron, New York, USA. She appeared in many later films and radio shows, but only gained real success in 1951 when she teamed up with her Cuban-born, bandleader husband, Desi Arnaz, to play the zany middle-class couple, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo in television’s prototypical situation comedy I Love Lucy.